Tips for Producing a Printable PDF

PDF’s are a great way to send work to us if they are built correctly. Here are a few things you can do when you create a PDF that will help your job run more smoothly.

• Always use Pantone Matching System (PMS) Colors or CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) Colors.
  • Never use RGB (Red, Green and Blue) Colors-they will not separate correctly.
  • This includes any placed or embedded images/graphics. (.jpg’s are usually set up as RGB and may need to be converted!)
  • Often images or text that start out in CMYK Mode convert to RGB Color Space in the PDF file.
  • When using QuarkXpress, Pagemaker, Illustrator or InDesign to create your files and the piece includes spot colors, you MAY use CMYK Process Colors to stand in for the spot color. (i.e. Cyan for Blue or Magenta for Red).
• Fonts
  • Always Embed. Do Not Use program typestyles (artificial/Quark Bold, Italic, etc.)
  • Subset fonts do not include the entire font.
  • Fonts using typestyles often “drop out” during the digital process and are replaced by the system default font-usually Courier.
  • Avoid “Convert to Outline” and “Convert to Raster Font” operations.
• Graphics
  • When using any Rasterized Graphics (.tif, .jpg, etc...), be sure they are high resolution (DPI).
  • When placed at 100%, these types of images need to be near 300DPI to print clearly.
  • Image resolution (DPI) can be lower if the image is being placed at less than 100%. For example, a 150 DPI images can be used if it is being placed at 50% or less.
• Always include trim marks.
• Include a Bleed when applicable.
  • Any object that is printed to the edge of a page MUST have a bleed-preferably 1/8".
• Whenever possible, create a postscript file and Distill the PDF in Acrobat as opposed to creating the PDF
  directly out of your layout program.(This requires Acrobat Professional.)
• If using Acrobat Professional, the standard, most widely accepted distiller setting to use is PDF/X-1a.
  • If this is not an option, the “For Press” setting will usually work as well.
• Preflight in Acrobat and use “Separation Preview”
  • Scrutinize your preflight reports. Be sure to check the number of plates the document will require to print, the colors used and the final resolution (DPI) of your graphics.
• Include the original files, support graphics and fonts from which the PDF has been created.

Questions or Concerns Please do not hesitate to give us a call, we’ll be happy to assist you in any way we can with the preparation of your files.

Artwork File Submission Guidelines

The following guidelines are to assist you in providing the proper electronic files into our production process.

File Transfer Capabilities:
FTP: Obtain a Login ID and Password from your Salesperson or CSR.
    Enter your Customer Login ID and Customer Password. (Case Sensitive)
    We recommend that you compress the file using Zip or Stuffit before     uploading it to our server.

Acceptable Media*:
CD-R/CD-RW
DVD-R/DVD-RW
ZIP 100
* Please include a list of all files on the disk.

Acceptable Applications (Mac Based*):
QuarkXpress (Version 6.5 or earlier)
Adobe Photoshop (Version 8.0 or earlier)
Adobe Illustrator (Version 11.0 or earlier)
Adobe InDesign (Version 3.0 or earlier)
Adobe Pagemaker (Version 7.0 or earlier)
*We also accept PC based files, subject to review.

Naming Files
Clearly name your files and limit to as few characters as possible. Do not use special punctuation like quotation marks (“), apostrophes (‘), periods (.), slashes (/ \) or asterisks (*). Please also use the correct program file extensions such as .tif, .eps and .qxd.

Support Files/Fonts
Include all support graphics, printer and screen fonts, and any fonts that were used in creating your graphics.

Bleeds and Keylines
Remember to build 1/8" to 1/4" bleeds into the file when necessary. Any object that is printed to the edge of the page MUST have a bleed built in. If you have any non-printing keylines in your file, please remove or instruct us to remove them before printing.

Questions?
Please contact Fred Schulze, Print Supervisor at 608-884-3452 or via email at fschulze@ammailing.com.